The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

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The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

by Mark Haddon

3.76 · rating details · 219,665 ratings · 16,620 reviews

Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. And he detests the color yellow.

This improbable story of Christopher's quest to investigate the suspicious death of a neighborhood dog makes for one

...more

Paperback, 226 pages

Published May 18th 2004 by Vintage (first published 2003)

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Aug 29, 2007

Sean rated it

Recommends it for: anyone who has a soul

Shelves: readit

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This book I read in a day. I was in a Chapters bookstore in Toronto (that's like Barnes and Noble to the Americans in the crowd) and anyway I was just browsing around, trying to kill time. When suddenly I saw this nice display of red books with an upturned dog on the cover. Attracted as always to bright colours and odd shapes, I picked it up. It's only about 250 pages or so. I read the back cover and was intrigued. I flipped through the pages and noticed that it had over One Million chapters. I ...moreThis book I read in a day. I was in a Chapters bookstore in Toronto (that's like Barnes and Noble to the Americans in the crowd) and anyway I was just browsing around, trying to kill time. When suddenly I saw this nice display of red books with an upturned dog on the cover. Attracted as always to bright colours and odd shapes, I picked it up. It's only about 250 pages or so. I read the back cover and was intrigued. I flipped through the pages and noticed that it had over One Million chapters. I was doubly intrigued.

So I walked over to the far wall of the bookstore to sit and begin to read a few pages. I always do this to ensure that I don't waste what little money I have on a book possessing nothing more than a flashy cover. (I do the same at the cinema - if I don't like the first 20 minutes, I get a refund. Restaurants, too: if I don't like the first ten bites, I walk out on the bill).

This is a book written by a Child Developmental Psychologist - I think that's the right term... - anyway, a doctor who works with mentally or physically challenged youngsters. The novel itself is a first person tale written by a high-functioning, mentally challenged boy in England who wakes up one morning to find his neighbor's dog dead on his lawn. The boy's teacher suggests he should write about the incident, which he eagerly sets out to do. So we have his first "novel", "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time". He plays Inspector and tries to solve the mystery as Sherlock Holmes would do...

Of course, if he's going to write a book, that means he can take control. He hates the way other books have chapter numbers that increase sequentially (1,2,3). He prefers prime numbers and will number his chapters in sequential primes - hence, by the end of the book, you're reading chapter 123,314,124 or whatever (I ain't no math guy ;)

Now then, he also writes about other things in his life and through his perspective you get some tear-jerking moments of true, unobstructed humanity: the way his parents broke up because of his state, how he has all these dreams about being someone great and going to a top college, even though you know that his situation will never really allow it.

Anyway. I read this book cover to cover sitting on the floor of that Chapters bookstore. By the end of it I was absolutely bawling my eyes out. Never cried so much in my life. In fact, as I type this and think back on that story, I'm dripping on my keyboard (and I'm at my office!). However - these are tears of joy. The boy does it. He can do anything. It's the most uplifting book I've ever read.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who feels anything deep down inside. (less)

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Jan 23, 2012

karen rated it

Shelves: littry-fiction, books-everyone-loves-but-me, and-so-this-is-grad-school

pooƃ ʎɹǝʌ ʇou puɐ ʎʞɔıɯɯıƃ ʎɹǝʌ sı ʞooq sıɥʇ

if you want to read an excellent book about autism in a young person, read marcelo in the real world. this book is like hilary swank - you can tell it is trying really hard to win all the awards but it has no heart inside. and yet everyone eats it up. C0ME ON!!

no one likes gimmicks.

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Jun 22, 2008

Chris rated it

Recommends it for: anyone looking for a reason to quit reading cold-turkey

Absolute garbage. Easily the worst book I’ve read in 2008, and certainly a contender for Worst Book I’ve Ever Read. This crap won the prestigious Whitbread Book of the Year honors, and while I have absolutely no idea what that entails, I firmly support both the eradication of this farcical award and the crucifixion of anyone on the selection committee that nominated this stinking smegma.

I’d seen this book prominently featured at many shops (mayhap Oprah was currently endorsing it ...more

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Sep 05, 2008

Amanda rated it

Recommended to Amanda by: Chicks on Lit book club pick for August 2008

Shelves: 2008

Am I autistic? Am I Christopher Boone? What is it about my OCD (self-diagnosed, boo yah!) that separates me from this fifteen-year-old kid? Fate is kind, but there is nothing more disturbing than learning that you possess so many of those qualities that categorize people as "special needs." I mean, shit. Choosing Item A over Item B because you like the color? Yep. Counting incessantly? Yep. Getting lost in London Underground? Yep. Quirky eating habits? Yep. Getting ridicu...more

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Jan 03, 2009

Laurel rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Here's what I liked about this book:
1. I found Christopher, with all his many quirks, to be sweet and rather endearing
2. I thought it was a creative idea to write a book from the point of view of a boy with Asperger syndrome. This is difficult to pull off, but the author does it well
3. I enjoyed Christopher's musings about life and the way in which he sees it
4. I love making lists

Here's what I didn't like about this book:
1. It wasn't really a mystery, a...more

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May 28, 2008

Joe rated it

The concept is interesting: narrating the novel through the POV of an autistic boy. The chapters are cleverly numbered by prime numbers, which ties in with the novel. It has interesting illustrations and diagrams to look at. However, I would not recommend this because it disappointed me and I couldn't, in good conscience, tell anyone to read a book I was disappointed in.

I guess my disappointment lies in the fact that not only did my book club tout this as a mystery novel but a...more

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Feb 03, 2008

Beth rated it

Shelves: whimsical-reads

A very charming, insightful, engaging book. From the perspective of a 15-year-old boy who has a kind of high-functioning autism (which may not be autism, actually, but Asberger's?).

Some mature themes. Here are some of my favorite quotes:

“For example, this morning for breakfast I had Ready Brek and some hot raspberry milk shake. But if I say that I actually had Shreddies and a mug of tea (footnote: But I wouldn’t have Shreddies and tea because they are both brown.) I ...moreA very charming, insightful, engaging book. From the perspective of a 15-year-old boy who has a kind of high-functioning autism (which may not be autism, actually, but Asberger's?).

Some mature themes. Here are some of my favorite quotes:

“For example, this morning for breakfast I had Ready Brek and some hot raspberry milk shake. But if I say that I actually had Shreddies and a mug of tea (footnote: But I wouldn’t have Shreddies and tea because they are both brown.) I start thinking about Coco Pops and lemonade and porridge and Dr Pepper and how I wasn’t eating my breakfast in Egypt and there wasn’t a rhinoceros in the room and Father wasn’t wearing a diving suit and so on and even writing this makes me feel shaky and scared, like I do when I’m standing on the top of a very tall building and there are thousands of houses and cars and people below me and my head is so full of all these things that I’m afraid that I’m going to forget to stand up straight and hang on to the rail and I’m going to fall over and be killed. This is another reason why I don’t like proper novels…” pg. 19

“I said that I wasn’t clever. I was just noticing how things were, and that wasn’t clever. That was just being observant. Being clever was when you looked at how things were and used the evidence to work out something new. Like the universe expanding, or who committed a murder. Or if you see someone’s name and you give each letter a value from 1 to 26 (a = 1, b =2, etc.) and you add the numbers up in your head and you find that it makes a prime number, like Jesus Christ (151), or Scooby-Doo (113), or Sherlock Holmes (163), or Doctor Watson (167).

Mr. Jeavons asked me whether this made me feel safe, having things always in a nice order, and I said it did.
Then he asked if I didn’t like things changing. And I said I wouldn’t mind things changing if I became an astronaut, for example, which is one of the biggest changes you can imagine, apart from becoming a girl or dying.” pg. 25

“Mrs. Alexander didn’t say anything. She walked to the little red box on a pole next to the gate to the park and she put Ivor’s poo into the box, which was a brown thing inside a red thing, which made my head feel funny so I didn’t look. Then she walked back to me.” pg. 57

“On the fifth day, which was a Sunday, it rained very hard. I like it when it rains hard. It sounds like white noise everywhere, which is like silence but not empty.” pg. 103

“And when I am in a new place, because I see everything, it is like when a computer is doing too many things at the same time and the central processor unit is blocked up and there isn’t any space left to think about other things. And when I am in a new place and there are lots of people there it is even harder because people are not like cows and flowers and grass and they can talk to you and do things that you don’t expect, so you have to notice everything that is in the place, and also you have to notice things that might happen as well. And sometimes when I am in a new place and there are lots of people there it is like a computer crashing and I have to close my eyes and put my hands over my years and groan, which is like pressing CTRL + ALT + DEL and shutting down programs and turning the computer off and rebooting so that I can remember what I am doing and where I am meant to be going.” pgs. 143-144
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Mar 18, 2007

oriana rated it

Shelves: phenomenal

This is the most disassociating book I've ever read. Try to read it all in one sitting -- it will totally fuck with your head and make you forget how to be normal.

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Mar 23, 2009

Δx Δp ≥ ½ ħ htgkvkkviholmvobsvzighxofyyzmw rated it

Shelves: i-me-mine, a-day-in-the-life

Ketika pertamakali melihatnya di toko buku, saya langsung penasaran dengan judul buku ini—apalagi di cover belakang ada embel-embel novel misteri pembunuhannya. Tapi ada alasan lain mengapa saya merasa buku ini wajib saya baca, ketika googling, tak sengaja saya menemukan daftar buku yang mendapat penghargaan Whitbread Award, dan secara mengejutkan, buku ini masuk dalam daftar juara. Karenanya, ketika menemukannya di toko buku, tanpa berpikir dua kali saya langsung memasukkannya dalam keranjang b...more

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May 29, 2007

lkt rated it

From my Amazon.com review:

"...I wrote a book and that means I can do anything..."

What a sad, strange book. Christopher's stream-of-consciousness narration was unique to say the least (I liked how he jumped around from topic to topic, because organized writing can become quite a bore). While I don't see this as a study on autism, many autistic characteristics are displayed - most notably, the OCD. Can't have one sort of food touching another sor...moreFrom my Amazon.com review:

"...I wrote a book and that means I can do anything..."

What a sad, strange book. Christopher's stream-of-consciousness narration was unique to say the least (I liked how he jumped around from topic to topic, because organized writing can become quite a bore). While I don't see this as a study on autism, many autistic characteristics are displayed - most notably, the OCD. Can't have one sort of food touching another sort on his plate, can't eat anything yellow or brown, the rigid timetables, counting the cars, etc. Yet he is highly functional IF certain conditions are met:

-no one touches him
-no crowds
-no loud noises
-there is order/if things make sense (he always appreciates order when he discovers it in new places, such as the train stops in intervals of 15 minutes)

There are others, of course. But he's basically highly sensitive to his surroundings and cannot cope when strangers, touching, or unfamiliar situations get in the way of an otherwise peaceful existence consisting of his preferred white noise and solving math equations. His mind can't process emotions correctly; instead, he reacts to negative emotions by screaming and moaning. He doesn't think highly of anyone besides himself and scientists.

Anyway, I found Christopher's dreams about being one of the only persons left on earth to be fascinating. He loves it because he can do anything - he can walk to the sea and it's raining and he can take ice cream from an abandoned shop and he can put on dry clothes at an abandoned house and, etc...(I wonder how many times "and" is used in that book!). He can do whatever he wants and no one bothers him.

Christopher didn't like to imagine things in his head that weren't happening, and the above reference was of course referring to a dream, but when he would imagine himself as an astronaut, isn't that a lie? He could become an astronaut, but he isn't one yet. He would look down on regular people who imagined things that weren't real, and yet he finds no fault with himself for doing this. Just an inconsistency. I can seem him as an astronaut, however, and I think he would make an extraordinary scientist if all environmental conditions were met. It wouldn't be good to have a breakdown in a lab full of dangerous substances.

I was quite angry to find out the truth about his mother, and his reaction was to be expected, I think, although if it had happened to a "normal" person, the repercussions would be longer lasting. How did this not destroy him? He is very fragile and though it's true that he hated his father and couldn't trust him for the rest of the book, it seems to me that he should hate his mother much more. She could have made more of an effort to see him, I think. Two years passed!! Perhaps she could have showed up at his school one day since his dad wouldn't have her at the house.

Overall, a really intriguing book, and I loved the drawings (I used to make drawings of floor plans of my house, neighbors' houses, relatives' houses, and stores to put in my diaries when I was younger. I also made intricate schedules and cried if my schedule would be disrupted, but those are only mild OCD symptoms, nothing near Christopher's --it just made me understand him a little more. I also hated places with lots of people; I would run out and hide in the car after church, for example) and appreciated his math and science explanations..most of it made a lot of sense and was very educational. I'll have to look up more about "The Case of the Cottingley Fairies" - those real life mysterious happenings are so interesting to me.
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May 07, 2009

Brad rated it

Recommended to Brad by: Marcicle Simkulet

The Prime Reasons Why I Enjoyed Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time:

2. Death broken down into its molecular importance.

3. Clouds, with chimneys and aerials impressed upon them, and their potential as alien space crafts.

5. Black Days and Yellow cars.

7. Red food coloring for Indian cuisine.

11. Christopher's reasons for loving The Hound of the Baskervilles and disdaining Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

13. Wh...more

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Sep 24, 2007

Anthony rated it

Recommends it for: oliver sacks/sherlock holmes fans

Shelves: law-school-procrastination

One day in June I was joking with my sister, "I should TOTALLY write a story about an autistic detective! He would go around solving mysteries, but then not telling anyone about it because he doesn't relate well to people!" And then I thought for a second, and said "oh wait, I think there's already a book about this."

As someone who likes neurology case histories and detective fiction, this sounded like the book for me. And it was, kinda. A few months after buying ...moreOne day in June I was joking with my sister, "I should TOTALLY write a story about an autistic detective! He would go around solving mysteries, but then not telling anyone about it because he doesn't relate well to people!" And then I thought for a second, and said "oh wait, I think there's already a book about this."

As someone who likes neurology case histories and detective fiction, this sounded like the book for me. And it was, kinda. A few months after buying it I started to read it while waiting for a plane and basically didn't put it down for more than 30 seconds during the flight. This book definitely grabs you enough to steam through it in about 3 hours.

While it was somewhat fulfilling to read, I did have my reservations, though. For one thing, Haddon does a pretty good job overall at presenting you his story through the eyes of an autist, which is to say the prose isn't the most graceful. It's not supposed to be. It's supposed to strike you with it's stiltedness and make you think about how the thought process of your narrator differs from your own. This is an effective technique, but one wonders if it's the best narrative choice for an entire novel. The story actually comes to a rather abrupt finish in the last twenty pages or so, which almost suggests that Haddon himself got tired of generating a story in this voice and wanted to put the book down himself. But of course, that's just speculation.

The narrator's unusual perspective is also indicated by the little tidbits of psychological facts that Haddon peppers the book with - which I found to be hit or miss. At times, they genuinely excited my curiosity. When the narrator describes failing a false belief test as a child, it made me wonder, do autists really remember in vivid detail a test like this so that they can understand how they failed it once they gain the ability to track intentions? It's just surprising enough for me to believe it, although it's unclear whether this is substantiated. But this episode also provides an example of the clumsiness of these insertions, as it comes off a little awkward for the narrator to tell us about his false belief test to begin with. For a book written in an autists voice, a little awkward can be a good thing, and maybe that's why this book just didn't wow me once I put it down three hours later.(less)

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Jan 25, 2008

Darcy rated it

Shelves: mystery-detective

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The great think about Curious Incident isn't that it is a mystery story about a boy with Asperger's Syndrome, it's that Mark Haddon does such a great job of reinventing the mystery formula. Let's face it, the Sherlock Holmes stories (which play a pretty prominent role in the novel's construction) are the benchmark by which a lot of detective narratives are mentioned. But they're pretty formulaic, especially in terms of character: Sherlock Holmes is a genius and Watson is a sidekick; Sherlock Hol...moreThe great think about Curious Incident isn't that it is a mystery story about a boy with Asperger's Syndrome, it's that Mark Haddon does such a great job of reinventing the mystery formula. Let's face it, the Sherlock Holmes stories (which play a pretty prominent role in the novel's construction) are the benchmark by which a lot of detective narratives are mentioned. But they're pretty formulaic, especially in terms of character: Sherlock Holmes is a genius and Watson is a sidekick; Sherlock Holmes is a thinking machine and Watson takes dictation; Sherlock Holmes knows your darkest secrets from looking at your shoes and Watson can't even remember where he was wounded (his arm? His leg?). Doyle needed that structure--he had to have a straight man for his great detective; one who could palm the ace so that the readers could enjoy the pleasure of being told how the crime was committed (as opposed to the pleasure of figuring it out for themselves). After all, Watson always knows the who, what, where, and when, but he's very careful to keep it hidden from the reader by reporting himself as a (let's be honest) bumbling. Who else but a John (or was it James?) H. Watson would be willing to represent himself as perpetually awestruck?

Even though Holmes and Watson perpetually haunt Curious Incident, their roles have been radically rewritten. There's no need for a crime-fighting duo here (a puzzle master and his biographer, the brain and the brawn, or the machine and the lover). Christopher fulfills both those positions and in doing so, repeatedly hides the "whodunit" not from the reader, but from himself. It is this recurring dramatic irony--the reader watching Christopher struggle in coming to grips with the fact that deductive logic alone is not enough in crime solving--that makes the book effective in so many ways. For starters, Haddon is engaging with precisely those qualities that made Sherlock Holmes a literary celebrity. If Holmes truly is a thinking machine, how effective can he really be? When taken to the extreme, isn't Holmes simply Christopher? Or, alternatively, Christopher is what Holmes would be if he were removed from a fictional world in which people can be read like texts, soil can be identified on sight, and monographs can be produced on 140 varieties of tobacco ash. Christopher's world, in other words, simply doesn't measure up to the categories Holmes produces for people. After all, what is a detective to do when deductive analysis cannot filter out motivations for utterly irrational behavior?(less)

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Jul 19, 2007

Sarah rated it

Recommends it for: People that like a quick easy read, and are interested in learning more about Autism.

I just finished reading this book for the second time. I loved it the first time, and I loved it the second time. I organize a Co-Ed book club in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and it was recommended to read. We just had our meeting to discuss it, and everyone seemed to enjoy it on some level or another, and no one had anything negative to say about it. I was very surprised to read some of the reviews on this site dissing this book, especially the review where someone mentioned it was for "Lit...more

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Apr 10, 2010

jo rated it

Recommends it for: linda

Shelves: psychic-pain, great-britain, disability, kids

this book rocked my world, and i've been trying for weeks to understand why. here it is:

* because the plot is flawless

* because the voice is flawless

* because it's amazingly tender without being cute

* because there's a christopher boone in me, and a christopher boone in everyone i love or at least try to get along with

* because the christopher boone in me loves to see itself written about lovingly, like it's the coolest kid, if not on t...more

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Jul 19, 2008

Jessica rated it

Recommends it for: people deserving my vengance

I consider myself a gourmand of the bitter and funny, devouring and savoring all in sight, and this book wasn't either of those things. "Bitterly funny debut novel..." Bitter compared to what? Cotton Candy? Funnier than a heart attack?

Furthermore, in place of black humor, I found manipulative, passive aggressive feel-goodery. "Ah, look at the little tyke," the pages seemed to say. "His emotionless innocence is better by far than the raw, wicked complexities ...more

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Sep 22, 2007

Hana AdLer rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: Everyone

Yup, it's still about Asperger Syndrome. The title of the novel is quite unique; “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time”. The author, Mark Haddon, has succesfully created a story about a boy named Christopher in this case, an asperger-boy.

The story goes like this: Christopher discovers the dead body of Wellington, his neighbour's pet (which is a poodle), speared by a garden fork. Having been blamed for it, he decides to investigate to clear his name. However, he is severe...more

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Jan 09, 2008

maricar rated it

Shelves: favorites, mystery-thriller, contemporary

whimsical yet packs a punch...

it may look inconspicuously thin, but the book, i bet, would be something that any lucky reader is sure to want to have for keeps. starts off innocently enough...well, okay, maybe not so innocent since the first scene was the finding of a brutally murdered dog. some may already think that that is all the story is going to be about--the finding of the killer. nothing too deep or exciting. heck...maybe not worth the effort at all (hey, don't pelt me--i own...morewhimsical yet packs a punch...

it may look inconspicuously thin, but the book, i bet, would be something that any lucky reader is sure to want to have for keeps. starts off innocently enough...well, okay, maybe not so innocent since the first scene was the finding of a brutally murdered dog. some may already think that that is all the story is going to be about--the finding of the killer. nothing too deep or exciting. heck...maybe not worth the effort at all (hey, don't pelt me--i own a dog and i drown her with hugs and kisses...).

then readers will realize that the protagonist isn't the usual teenager. christopher's frames of argument, logic, judgements are so interesting to muddle through, you'll find yourself at times amused, oftentimes befuddled, and, sometimes still, sympathetic. the way haddon reveals how christopher thinks, feels, and understands the world around him was masterfully done--not too inflated, nor apologetic. there were chapters and chapters where it seems that everything in christopher's life would be untouched by his determination to find the perpetrator of the crime, and then suddenly what seemed so delicate and innocent came crashing down on his shoulders. the focus of the story then hones in mercilessly on christopher and his topsy-turvy world. one can actually feel his overwhelming fear as he is inevitably forced to "confront" the world outside his comfort zone, yet often one has the strangest desire to embrace him for his even stronger will to make things "safe" and "logical" for him again, if only for the sake of his sanity.

though special people like christopher may hardly ever be truly understood by any one person in all their entirety, haddon makes it excruciatingly evident to us that, what for most people is just a simple day, it's a series of endless emotional barrage for autistic people.

i found myself on the verge of tears when his father yearned to "hug" christopher but was unable to do so. you sort of "hurt" with the father and may even be empathetic to how it must be for him to look after a son with special needs, and yet you also can't help but inexplicably cry for christopher and for what he unknowingly needs but is unconsciously having such an enormous difficulty in reaching for -- indeed, there was a part of me that was relieved that the burden of having to know this will never be christopher's.

i immensely enjoyed this novel. it may begin on light, delicate feet but steadily gains ground, and before you know it, you are assailed with conflicting emotions you never thought to feel. a real treasure.(less)

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Feb 10, 2008

Jen Terpstra rated it

Recommends it for: People who annoy me.

Shelves: disliked, random-lit

Ok, I get the concept. A heartwarming story told from the vantage point of an autistic boy.

Heartwarming, eh. Sure. Cerebral? You bet. For the "Literary Snob"? ABSOFREAKINGLUTELY. (Because most of those people LOVE "The Catcher in the Rye"...one of my most hated books of all time...and this book has been compared to that one. I should have known).

Look. I'm smart, I'm educated. I'm a professional woman who adores literature and loves to read. I bought t...more

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May 12, 2007

Lisa Vegan rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: if have interest in autism &/or looking for an easy fun novel to read

Recommended to Lisa by: Sfdreams

Shelves: fiction, reviewed, novels

I love books about young people with brain diseases/mental illness/illness/autism; the teenage boy in this book is autistic. This is ostensibly a mystery and I love mysteries also, but there wasn’t really much of a mystery here – the compelling thing to me about this book is the way this young man’s mind works. Many personality traits and behaviors of this character rang so very true, a few somewhat less so. But I really enjoyed his unusual narrative voice. Given the situation of this young man,...more

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Jul 27, 2011

Shawn Sorensen rated it

Shelves: fiction

For reasons I may or may not realize, I haven’t read a fictional account that comes across this realistic in a long time. Kapitoil was close, but The Curious Incident paints a more complete picture.

The book is from the viewpoint of an autistic teen boy named Christopher - his mom has recently died and he discovers a dead dog in one of his neighbor’s yards. The short list: he doesn’t read people’s emotions very well (like the android “Data” from Star Trek next Generation, if you ...moreFor reasons I may or may not realize, I haven’t read a fictional account that comes across this realistic in a long time. Kapitoil was close, but The Curious Incident paints a more complete picture.

The book is from the viewpoint of an autistic teen boy named Christopher - his mom has recently died and he discovers a dead dog in one of his neighbor’s yards. The short list: he doesn’t read people’s emotions very well (like the android “Data” from Star Trek next Generation, if you will), he hates the colors yellow and brown, excels at math, hates to be touched (and has a pretty fierce uppercut when it happens) and often loses his memory when he gets upset. Like many teenage boys, he dreams of long periods of alone time.

Since he doesn’t care much about reading into other people’s emotions, he goes around knocking on doors in his neighborhood to ask who killed the dog. He’s a big fan of Sherlock Holmes, who he perceives as the master of objective details that others overlook. Except that no one wants to tell him anything about the dog except the kindly, lonely old Mrs. Alexander, who finally breaks it to the boy that his mom was cheating on his dad. Then a lot more starts raining down.

The dad comes across as calm, especially to a young kid, yet is passive-aggressive person who doesn’t always realize how much clarity his son needs. When he tells Christopher to “drop all this investigation nonsense”, the son considers what he finds out from Mrs. Alexander as “small talk” and not what his dad forbade - “snooping around” the neighborhood asking about a dead mutt.

In fact, the father’s passive-aggressiveness and the son’s determination and objectivity make for heartbreaking tension. The crux of the story isn’t about the dog, it’s what the dad keeps from Christopher “until he gets old enough to understand”. Even though he’s autistic, we find out that Christopher is old enough to know anything - and will go way out of his way to find the truth.

This is a book that doesn’t end neatly and nicely because life usually doesn’t turn out that way. It just sort of ends. We learn a lot about autism, it’s very defined characteristics and why it’s so difficult for ‘normal’ people to be around. There is no one in the story who treats Christopher the way he wants to be treated except a counselor at school.

This is a good story in which we learn a lot about this condition. If the story needs to stall because the narrator is stuck on telling all the facts of a particular situation, then that’s what happens. You don’t necessarily comprehend why everything is written the way it’s written, but it somehow all feels important by the end. I raced through everything regardless.

And the boy’s objectivity lends a prophetic feel to some of the things he says. He wonders why people think they’re superior to animals, for example. His thinking is that in a couple of centuries the human race might evolve to where the human beings of today end up on display in a zoo. And if we all kill each other through war or wearing out the planet, then insects could end up being the most superior creatures on earth. So who’s to say there’s a strict hierarchy to begin with? He has interesting theories on the constellations, the Big Bang theory, major religions, etc.

Sure, a general comparison could be made to the movie “Rainman”, except that this book gives complete attention to the afflicted character, Christopher. It breaks down one of society’s more recent creations - the mental institution, one of the big barriers between “us” and “them”. You discover there’s a ton of humanity and things to learn and consider from someone you may have previously been too nervous to even be around. (less)

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Nov 25, 2007

Alex rated it

It's a rare book that can sit on the bestseller shelf and still call to me... for most tomes, the bestseller label is a big enough turn off to make me never consider it. That being said, I have no clue what made me go for this one. Maybe it was the upside-down dog. Maybe it was the lengthy title. But what I really don't get, having read it, is how it was ever a best-seller.

That's not to say it's a bad book. It wasn't. I'll be honest, I don't know exactly how I feel about it, but it w...moreIt's a rare book that can sit on the bestseller shelf and still call to me... for most tomes, the bestseller label is a big enough turn off to make me never consider it. That being said, I have no clue what made me go for this one. Maybe it was the upside-down dog. Maybe it was the lengthy title. But what I really don't get, having read it, is how it was ever a best-seller.

That's not to say it's a bad book. It wasn't. I'll be honest, I don't know exactly how I feel about it, but it was not bad. It was done well, in fact. It just didn't have many elements that people like in best-sellers. Being done well, for example, is usually taboo.

To start, it's a bit of a challenging read for the DaVinci Code crowd. We have to follow the train of thought of an autistic child, which isn't always as rational as he'd like to believe. Action will go on hold for stretches of time. There are diagrams and math problems. There's bold letters and repetitious breaking-down of everything. Even while some of these elements would make it easier for the normal book buyer to relate to, it's still a style that requires a brain to wrap around.

Also, I found the characters wholly unlikable. Bestseller markets like likable characters. While I was offended and pained and trying to justify the fact that every character sucked at the end of, say, Tom Wolfe's "I Am Charlotte Simmons," Haddon's book is far smaller, so I feel the unlikable characters simply added a unique flavour. Honest, though, outside of minor, flat characters (who are actually the most likable), none of the main adult characters are good people, and Christopher, autistic or not, is a self-centered brat. I know, I'm supposed to have compassion for how unlike other kids he is, but I really don't. He's a huge brat and hyper-intelligent with book smarts but completely naive about real world smarts, which makes his self-important fact-rattling really, really annoying. It's how his character is supposed to be, though, so I can't fault the author. It does lead to another question, though... this is the sort of book where you need to know something about a problem effecting other humans. Is the bestseller public ready to be educated about autism? Who convinced them that disabilities were the new gauche thing to read about?

At the end of the day, it was worth the read. It was a memorable book, and not bad, if not entirely my cup of tea. Still, I'm left wondering how it became so popular. Perhaps James Patterson has a hidden, literary pen name?(less)

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Jim OK, Alex, fair point to you: a kid like Christopher would be annoying, but so are half the people who are out walking around. I guess the problem I ha...moreOK, Alex, fair point to you: a kid like Christopher would be annoying, but so are half the people who are out walking around. I guess the problem I had with the review was that it reflects attitudes I see in a lot of people (including people who really should know better, like educators). Though Christopher is a fictional creation, he was pretty true to form for an awful lot of kids.

This book has an agenda (and I think a lot of people miss it); it is to get readers to see past the surface of a kid like Christopher and see that he is someone who, though not easy to like, should be loved. That's not PC, that's just ethical behavior.

It's not always easy to see beyond a person's outward characteristics, even harder with someone like Christopher who doesn't have normal patterns of interaction. We say we value substance over form, that character counts, etc., but we don't always act on this.

For me, the book leads to larger point. There are a lot of people, not just on the autism scale, who are different enough to inspire discomfort or invite ridicule. Think about the bookish, dreamy kids at school who were socially awkward and unathletic. In a school setting, it can be Lord of the Flies brutal, but many adults aren't much better. In the book, there was a moment that was small but telling, where the mom's boyfriend picked out Christopher's numeracy for ridicule. It reminded me of what the philosopher Ortega wrote about people feeling threatened by difference and/or superior abilities, wanting to attack or belittle the person with those abilities rather than give respect.

A few words about bestsellers: I used to work in a book shop, and I was appalled by the unwillingness of some people to read a book unless Oprah or the bloody NY Times told them it was all right. That said, what we read for pleasure is a matter of taste. It's wrong to assume that everyone who reads bestsellers does not also read serious or challenging books. I also suspect that some people who read the latter don't do so because they enjoy it. (less)
Apr 10, 2008 08:10am

Ricki I agree with Alex. With autism THAT severe, the person won't be "likable" by regular standards, and will naturally be self-centered and a "...more
Jun 06, 2011 05:09pm

Jan 03, 2009

Eric rated it

Recommends it for: Bethany, Lucy, Lizzie Simon, Alexandra Mair, Josh

Recommended to Eric by: Marcy Williams

Shelves: modern-fiction

This is an absolutely incredible book. I purchased it about a week and a half ago. Once I started reading it, I finished it in five days; that's the shortest amount of time I've ever taken on a book!

The Curious Incident is told from the point of view of Christopher John Francis Boone, an autistic teenager in Wiltshire, England. He has great difficulty relating to most humans, but seems to communicate well with animals. In the book's opening, Christopher decides to investigate the...more

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Oct 16, 2011

Ashley rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: own, psych, blog

Another update- I have a real review of this on my blog, Books from Bleh to Basically Amazing BUT I really liked what I have below- my initial thoughts, and the updated thoughts and I don't want to delete those. So, if you want to see my 'real' review, click the link! :)

Update- Reread

I still love this book. Like, amazingly a lot! But, I'm reading this old post, and this time around, I didn't notice the swearing as much. Wonder what that says about me. :( But still, absol...more

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Apr 30, 2008

Jann rated it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. It certainly is an interesting look inside the mind of someone who is autistic. Christopher is so straight forward about things, but he is also a little condescending at times. He knows he is smart about math and science, and when he veers into these topics as he investigates the death of his neighbor's dog, his explanations of various terms, often including diagrams, are thorough. He assumes nothing of intelligence about his reader, which is both arrogant and refreshing. He is also remarkab...moreIt certainly is an interesting look inside the mind of someone who is autistic. Christopher is so straight forward about things, but he is also a little condescending at times. He knows he is smart about math and science, and when he veers into these topics as he investigates the death of his neighbor's dog, his explanations of various terms, often including diagrams, are thorough. He assumes nothing of intelligence about his reader, which is both arrogant and refreshing. He is also remarkably candid about his shortcomings. He explains that he doesn't understand jokes or metaphors and he prefers for people to be direct.

Christopher is almost incapable of actual emotion, and what emotion he does have manifests itself in physical ways-- he groans, he plugs his ears, or he literally becomes sick. He hates being touched, to the point that he always has a Swiss Army Knife in his pocket at the ready, and at various points he hits a police officer, his father, and a random passerby who is attempting to help him.

That being said, Christopher gets the shaft from well-meaning parents. His father especially knows how to relate to Christopher, and Christopher on the whole seems to really benefit from the interactions with his father and also his teacher the most. His mother takes off when she can't deal with him or his father anymore. The unfortunate part of this is the fact that Christopher's dad is total liar. When his lies are discovered, he can't explain because Christopher doesn't understand. His mind is so linear that, when told his mother was dead, she totally ceased to exist. The other option, discovered through letters hidden in his dad's closet, simply doesn't occur to him. He tries to rationalize it and ends up going into what I understand to be a classic 'autistic' style overload where he retreats so far into his own mind he is barely aware of his father's presence. The one thing his dad has going for him is that he doesn't flip out and get mad that Christopher was going through the closet. That was the only time I found anything his father did remotely relatable.

I found it very difficult to read the parts where he lapses into a description of the garden, an in-depth diagram of Swindon, or his explanation of mathematical deductions. The reprieve near the end, when Christopher adds an appendix explaining how he solved a math problem on a test, was much-appreciated. I have a Calculus textbook I can read when I want, I don't need it in a novel I'm reading as well.

Overall, the plot twist was enough to keep me interested, but I don't think I'll read this book again anytime soon since I know what happens. I liked it, just not enough to read over and over.
(less)

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Jul 07, 2007

Amanda rated it

Shelves: read_summer_07, common-reading-experience

I finished The Curious Incident... in under 24 hours. That is how much I loved the book. I felt it really accurately captured most family life with a special needs child, and it really brought autism to light. Christopher's interactions during his adventure reminded a bit of how people treat the main character in Alan Lightman's The Diagnosis. And the talk of math and science make me think it would be a great choice for BGSU's Common Reading Experience. (Check out the CRE blog too for reading su...moreI finished The Curious Incident... in under 24 hours. That is how much I loved the book. I felt it really accurately captured most family life with a special needs child, and it really brought autism to light. Christopher's interactions during his adventure reminded a bit of how people treat the main character in Alan Lightman's The Diagnosis. And the talk of math and science make me think it would be a great choice for BGSU's Common Reading Experience. (Check out the CRE blog too for reading suggestions and the next possible CRE book!) I heard a rumor, though, that Mark Haddon doesn't like to travel, which wouldn't work to well, considering we like to have the author come to campus for a reading and meet and greets...

***

I tried so hard to like Kaufmann's The Sister, but I couldn't. I stopped reading it after page 50. Emily's sister was annoying me. I thought it would be a good esoteric read for my sister project (a collection of essays about my sister that I'm working on--however, it's taking me years to write them) and because I love Emily Dickinson. The Sister just bored me though, and I had to move on. I have to get through a lot of books before the new Harry Potter comes out. I don't have time to waste on being bored, which significantly slows down my reading! If anyone has read The Sister, liked it, and wants to shed some light on it for me, I'd be more than happy to listen. I've found with many books that if I wait a couple of years and to read it again, things click for me and I like it. Maybe I'll try again in 2010.

***

I'm having a frustrating week (I realize it's only Tuesday). I've been thinking lot and internalizing a lot and I feel like I have something to say, but I don't feel like being verbal, and when I am verbal I end up not communicating properly and sounding like an idiot or a bitch. Today while working out I realized I get like this when I'm starting a writing project and/or writing. I have two ideas I'm working on, and have been taking notes in my head, my computer's post-its, and in my dream journal. But I didn't really realize I was working on anything until last night when I was trying to go to sleep. Tomorrow I plan on writing. I'm hearing some language and feeling "disturbed," which are good things for me, but they may not be so good for people I try to talk with. I thank God every day for FD b/c he's the same way and we can understand each other. It's the people at the grocery store, the bank, etc.--whoever we run into that I feel for. Sometimes I wish I could just wear a fashionable shirt that said, "I'm not mad (as in upset and crazy), I'm just thinking." (It would be a really cute shirt if it had a LV on it or a Lilly Pulitzer palm tree.) And when I'm thinking really hard sometimes I wish every place was automated so I could think and do my chores and not talk and save my energy for writing.

I guess it's a blessing I do have a faculty job and I have the summer off and I don't get like this too much when I'm teaching. Normally, I get it over breaks. Or just in the morning before I teach. So I guess it would be a blessing that right now as I'm sitting here in the Student Athletics think tank no athletes are showing up. Would I sound like a complete ass right now if I tried to talk about writing?

Maybe that's why I like Christopher in The Curious Incident...Maybe because he was a thinker and I'm in that mode today.

I gotta stop. Writing of this thinking while thinking the thinking and thinking of how to write the thinking is driving me stinking crazy.

***

Sidenote: While here tutoring, I came to find out it is one my favorite people's in the Student Athletics Department birthday! And she called this (June) her "birthmonth" as well. See, I'm not the only one!(less)

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Mar 12, 2010

Jackie-c rated it

In “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time”, you see the world through the eyes of a 15 year old autistic boy named Christopher Boone. In his world, order and systematic methods are his sense of security, which is why he excels in math and physics. However, he is unable to make sense of other people and their emotions because they have no logic or formula to go by. Anytime that he comes across something that doesn’t make sense to him, it feels like, Christopher describes, “the room wa...moreIn “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time”, you see the world through the eyes of a 15 year old autistic boy named Christopher Boone. In his world, order and systematic methods are his sense of security, which is why he excels in math and physics. However, he is unable to make sense of other people and their emotions because they have no logic or formula to go by. Anytime that he comes across something that doesn’t make sense to him, it feels like, Christopher describes, “the room was swinging from side to side, as if it was at the top of a really tall building.”

This story begins with the seemingly “unimportant” death of his neighbour’s dog, Wellington. Surprisingly, although he cannot relate with other human beings, he is able to sympathize with this dog. As he begins to investigate the murder, he dives deep into his own family secrets and finds out exactly what it means to be someone “special” from the perspective of another person.

It’s fascinating to read how Haddon portrays Christopher as a person who doesn’t understand sediments but still carefully narrates the book. His friend Siobhan draws pictures of faces with different emotions, and without it, he is unable to understand what other people feel. However, even though he cannot comprehend the other side of the picture, the novel is written in such a way that the reader is able to understand exactly what is going on. This book brings out the raw emotions that the readers have and makes them want to convey it to Christopher who is “lost” in his own world of statistics and calculations.

There are some parts of the novel which are irrelevant to the situation at hand, which can get a little irritating to read because it interrupts the flow of the story. If Christopher finds a clue in one chapter, the next chapter could be about a hard math problem he knows. This happens frequently in the book and makes the reader think, “Again?” However, this could be written off as the train of thought in the mind of an autistic child since the novel takes the perspective of Christopher as the author.

All in all, I thought that the book was a quick and fantastic read because of the perspective. It makes you see how the world can be so honest and taken so literally that sometimes it makes you laugh and sometimes, as Christopher describes, "It makes me scared...and I do not know what is going to happen."(less)

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Apr 12, 2008

Nancy rated it

Shelves: contemporary-fiction, disability, audio-books, library-books

I really enjoyed this very engaging story told from the perspective of an autistic boy named Christopher. It was sad and hilariously funny too, especially considering that some of the narrator's behavioral problems are also seen in "normal" people. I still get a chuckle when I think about Christopher's reason for disliking corn.

Another good story featuring an autistic narrator is Elizabeth Moon's Speed of Dark.

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Jun 30, 2011

Knowledge Lost rated it

Shelves: 1001-books-to-read-before-you-die, ya, mystery

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time tells the story of Christopher Boone, a 15 year autistic boy. Christopher has set out to work out who killed the neighbour’s dog Wellington. While I don’t claim to understand anything about autism, I was a little jealous at how logically and well Christopher thought. While Christopher is out playing detective trying to solve the murder of Wellington, he is writing this book to recount his adventures. His adventures lead him to discover a much big...more

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Oct 02, 2011

Kay rated it

Recommends it for: someone looking for a quick and unique reading experience

Shelves: contemporary, journey-not-destination, whodunit, quirky, numbers-in-my-head

Final Rating: ***(1/2)*

OMG, do I have a mild case of Asperger's?

Things I do that align with things that Christopher does:

(2) Depend on coincidental occurrences to determine whether today will be an okay day. Christopher likes to count cars in the morning, I see if my hair dries in a certain style. If it doesn't, well, it's definitely not a good start to a potentially perfect day.

(3) Tune out people so much that I don't notice anyone unless t...more

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Mark Haddon is a British novelist and poet, best known for his 2003 novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. He was educated at Uppingham School and Merton College, Oxford, where he studied English.

In 2003, Haddon won the Whitbread Book of the Year Award and in 2004, the Commonwealth Writers' Prize Overall Best First Book for his novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in...more

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